Unforgotten Love
by painted heart
Summary: Van Helsing's been sent on a mission to kill Dracula, he takes Carl and his hunting partner Cassandra with him. But what will happen when Dracula recognizes Cassandra and unlocks her memory
1. Chapter 1

Van POV

Tracking doesn't normally take this long for me or Cassandra, then again we've only just arrived at Nottradamn so it may be because we are a little tired at the moment from the tiring ship ride from London this morning, but its not stopping us from finding our charge.

"Van Helsing?"

From the sound of Cassandra's voice I turn to see her coming over to me, both of us in our gear as we have been searching all day and its night now.

She's wearing her usual black leather tight jeans, boots that go above her knees, her dark blue corset top and her black leather long coat that goes to her knees but has slits that help her manoevourability. As usual she has her elbow length jet black wavy hair down, somehow it never gets in the way of her work, god knows how but then again I cant talk.

She also has her sais in their hidden slots at either outer pockets of her boots, with her dagger just visible in its holt on the belt at her hip, she would have her other daggers on but they were damaged in the last mission we did so they are being mended back in Rome.

"I've found his tracks, he's looking for food" she says, showing me a used giant cigar in her hand, I take it and sniff the length of it, but then throw it over my shoulder after grimacing at the smell,

"Yep, that's definitely him" I say, knowing that putrid smell anywhere.

But then I see her looking at something behind me with a confused expression, I turn to have a look to then find a poster with both our faces on it. I rip it off to have a closer look,

"We're being wanted for murder" I say, after reading it, from this she stands beside me to have a closer look,

"We do these humans a good deed by getting rid of their monsters and what do we get in return?" she says, looking at me with no expression, she always gets annoyed with these posters.

"We're doing a good deed for the world Cassie, but that doesn't mean we get something in return, no reward. Except saving a place of its monsters, isn't that enough?" I ask, looking at her curiously, using her nickname to try and calm her down. She is like a sister to me and I don't like seeing her irritated.

"It used to be. Now I'm not so sure. We do all these things for them and yet would they do the same for us? - I doubt it" she says, with this I shrug.

But then bringing us out of our discussion we hear a terrified scream followed by a familiar laugh.

"Come on, let's go get our monster" I say, at this she nods and we both make our way to follow the monster,

"Remember Van, we have to bring Dr. Jackal to the order alive" she says as we make our way inside the Cathedral. With this I nod, remembering our orders.


	2. Chapter 2

Cassandra POV

We both tracked the monster all the way to the cathedral, and thanks to my extra senses I was able to get a better insight to tell us where he is exactly to save us on time. But this leads us to the attic, typical.

Slowly and silently we walked up into the attic; I keep my eyes open for anything as I see Van doing the same, going separately around the giant bell in front of us so we see on both sides in case either of us see something the other doesn't.

Then suddenly after walking a few footsteps in front of the bell, and right in front of us, is the ugly beast of Dr. Jackal upside down, attempting to scare us with his growl, but neither myself or Van flinched.

"Evening" says Van, inclining his head to him; I just nod at him, keeping my eye on the beast before us.

"You two are good, you'll both be hard to digest" he says, from this Van then raises his hat so he can see the monster better,

"We'd hate to be such a nuisance" he says. I grin internally. But there's no way in hell I'm ending up in this monsters belly.

After jumping to the floor whilst giggling like an idiot, the monster is now standing in front of us and rises to his full height, which is almost twice as tall as Van.

"I missed you in London" I say to cut the silence, he laughs at this and jumps up to one of the banisters, his eyes on me now,

"Hehe! No you bloody did not, you got me good you did" he says grinning at me, showing the gaping hole through his fore arm where I shot at him, I smirk at this.

"Doctor Jackal you are wanted by the knights of the holy order" says Van, from this the monster jumps up to the wooden frame on the ceiling,

"It's Mr. Hyde now" says the monster, or should I say Mr. Hyde as we now know he likes to call himself when he is like this.

"For the murder of twelve men, six women, four –"but he's interrupted by Mr. Hyde,

"Children, three goats and a rather nasty massacre of poultry! You're the great Van Helsing, and you ma Cherie are Cassandra - No last name" he says.

It's true nobody knows my full name since not even I know, all I know is my first name, my skills and all else I have gained since being found by the monks in Rome over four hundred years ago, four months and six days today. Van and the monks of the order are my family and have been ever since.

They did first think me to be a demon or a monster because of my 'gifts' had me locked in a cell until they could determine if I was a threat or not, but when they found the truth of my nature they decided to train me, teach me and allow me to learn under their instruction on how to defeat the monsters of darkness.

"And you're a deranged psycho-path" I say, looking at Mr Hyde, from this he lands back on the floor in front of us,

"We all have our little problems" he says, now eating the large cigar after putting it out on his tongue. But I could have sworn he glanced at me when he said this, I don't believe he knows all my limits but he has witnessed me using my special talents.

"My superiors would like me to take you alive so that they may extricate your better half" says Van, but the monster leaps over him, taking his hat in the process and places it over his own head, proving it to be too small for him, but he doesn't seem to care.

"I bet they bloody would" he says,

"Personally I'd rather just kill you and call it a day – but let's make it your decision shall we" says Van, both of us now facing him now, looking at him waiting for him to answer, but I am betting that this isnt going to go down without a fight.

"Hmm, do lets –. " But without finishing, he throws at the wall to thee side with one swing of his arm, but not without us aiming a few shots with our guns at him, but unfortunately missing.

Quietly I get up followed my Van, looking around to see where Mr Hyde went.

Carefully we stand up with our guns still in hand, looking around us for him, then suddenly we hear a creak at the far end of the attic we're in to then see him start swinging over to us using the eves on the ceiling as supports,

"Here – I – Come – Ready – Or – Not!" he yells, now finally off and on the ground and charging at us,

I see Van at the corner of the my eye bring out his hand saws and begins winding them, and when Mr Hyde runs at us, we dodged him at either sides of him, leading to him running head first into the bell behind us,

"The bell! The bell!" he yells as if in pain, clutching his ears, as he does this I extend my nails after putting away my guns, one of my abilities and its come in a lot of uses.

Both me and Van now begin to advance at the monster, but he sees this and we see him pull the bell off its chain and holding it over us, but before he lowers it on us, and without him seeing me, I quickly crawl up to the top of the inside of the bell using my nails, with Van crouched below me. Both of us hearing the monster laugh thinking its captured us in the bell.

Van looks up to me in question, and I nod in answer to his silent question, still remaining at the top of the inside of this bell. He then uses his hand saw to create a circular hole in the ground to make it look like we escaped through it. I help Van up quickly into the bell just as the monster pulls us up, and as predicted he sees the hole in the floor.

But then Van uses his hand saw to then cut the monsters arm, but after he's done that the monster drops the bell and in effect us with it.

"Damn it!" I hiss after we've crawled out of the bell, me after hitting my head against the bell, now hearing the monster weeping from his loss of his arm,

"I'll bet that's upsetting" says Van, I nod in agreement from this.

But then suddenly the monster runs up to us and then grabs Van and tosses him to through the ceiling. Then unexpectedly grabs me and chucks me over his shoulder and jumps up the ceiling and through the hole he made, there I see Van on the floor of the ceiling.

"Ah Paris!" yells the monster, then dropping me to the floor and grabbing Van, then going over to the edge,

"I – I think you'll find the view over here – rather spectacular. It's been a pleasure knowing you. Or ra vwah!" he shouts (sorry don't know how to say it so put it how it sounds,) throwing Van off the ceiling.

"Van!" I yell, from where I'm at shock and fear running at me after registering that Van has just been thrown off the tower. But then suddenly his hook shoots through the monsters stomach and the tip just inches away from my face, I smile knowing hes still alive, I touch the tip of the hook for it to fully come out as a hook and it then shoots back but grips onto the monsters back. But without warning he grabs my neck as he is dragged forwards, I grab his hand in mine, trying my best to keep from getting my neck snapped, seeing us approaching the edge of the tower.

But with quick thinking the monster uses his foot to step on a gargoyle so that we don't fall, then I see him grabbing the rope from where Van is holding on from, I can see him now at this angle holding onto the other end of the rope.

"My turn!" yells the monster, then yanking up the rope and beginning to run us over to the other side of the tower top but forgetting to look backward he trips over the ledge and throws us over the edge. I grip hold of his hand that's still around my neck and make my nails grow that pierce his skin, causing his scream to louden as he finally lets go of me in time for me to allow my wings to rip through my back and stop me from landing on the glass ceiliing of the cathedral, but the monster is not so lucky. I watch as he goes right through, still attached to the string and as I fly through the cathedral trying to grab hold of him to prevent him from going further, gravity wins out and he flies through rose window of the chapel, the hook coming right through his stomach, I try to fly faster at him as he gets closer to the ground.

Before my eyes he changes to the older proffessor Jackal, and he looks behind him, seeing the ground approaching, I reach my hands out to him, trying to get him, but just as he looks back at me and tries to reach for me…its too late.

Quickly I flap my wings to prevent me from suffering the same, and end up hovering over him. I look around me to see people coming towards me, and I quickly fly upwards towards the cathedral tower finding Van there.

The both of see the body of Dr Jackal being surrounded by people and to make matters worse, we see officers there too, and one looks up at us, spotting us, me crouched on edge of the tower, feeling terrible for not being able to catch the doctor in time.

"Van Helsing, Cassandra? You Murderers!" he shouts.

As quick as we could we got away from the church, me carrying Van down from the tower as to avoid the officers and found where we'd hidden our horses. I make my wings vanish before I approach my horse as she gets a little skitish when I have them out

"Cassie, are you alright?" asks Van as we ride out of Notradamn, I look to him at my side, trying to not let my face display the despair I feel,

"I should have flown faster, if I had then I could have caught him in time. I hope the cardinal can forgive me" I say, I know he has seen through my mask as he offers me a supportive nod,

"You'll be alright Cassie, I'm sure he will understand, you did what you could its not your fault, your only as fast as your wings will let you" he says, I nod in agreement, I'll just have to practice my flying more in hopes that this will not happen again.

But I am still sure that the cardinal is going to give me a lecture when we get back to Rome.


	3. Chapter 3

Cassandra POV

We finally made it to Roma's great cathedral. We mounted our horses at a small stable we have for them and then make our way inside heading towards the confessions block, Van sits down as he got saddle sore from the long journey we had, I'm not so bad so I stand to the side inside the block beside him,

"Bless us father for we have –" but before we can finish another voice interrupts,

"Sinned yes I know, you're very good at that. You shattered the Rose Window" says the cardinal, and basically our boss and leader, from this I roll my eyes, who the hell cares about a damn window?

"Not to split hairs, sir, but Mr Hyde did the shattering" I say, seeing them both look at me for this, though Van is the one who I see briefly smile,

"13th century. Over 600 years old - I wish you a week in hell for that" he says, I look down annoyed feeling like a scolded child.

"It would be a nice reprieve," I say, looking at the cardinal.

"Don't get me wrong. Your results are unquestionable…but your methods attract far too much attention. 'Wanted' posters? We are not pleased" he says, from this I look at him confused, does he think we enjoy all this?

"Do you think we like being the most wanted people in Europe? Why don't you and the order do something about it?" asks Van, I nod in agreement when he says this, being the most wanted isn't exactly a good thing and it certainly doesn't make our jobs easier.

"Because we do not exist," he says at the same time opening the divider between us and him, I roll my eyes at this,

"Well then neither do I" says Van who I see him about to get up, but as soon as he's about to leave the block we're in the bars come down, blocking his way and trapping us inside, I smirk slightly knowing that that was coming,

"When we found you crawling up the steps of this church half dead, and you more closely to death Cassandra then he was, it was clear to all of us that you had been sent to do gods work" says the cardinal, I roll my eyes at this, when they found me they thought I was a demon and were trying to decide whether to kill me, torture me for information or listen to me, thankfully they went with the latter,

"Why can't he do that himself?" says Van without looking behind him, yeah he gets really annoyed by all this sending us out to do the church and gods dirty work, I don't like it either

"Don't blaspheme, you've already lost your memory as a penance for past sins," he says, after clicking something in his booth we begin to descend, seeing that we're going down underground.

"If you wish to recover it, I suggest you continue to heed the call. Without us, the world would be in darkness. Governments and empires come and go...but we! We have kept mankind safe since time immemorial. We are the last defence against evil. An evil that the rest of mankind has no idea even exists" says the cardinal, leading us away from the booth and further in the great chambers below the cathedral.

"To you, these monsters are just evil beings to be vanquished. We're the one standing there when they die...and become the men they once were," I say, after we've stopped. Here priests make our weapons and research any events going on in the world that they usually send me and Van or separately to go and deal with.

"To you my son, this is all a test of faith, and you my daughter one of strength. And now we need you to go to the east, to the far side of Romania, an accursed land…terrorized by all sorts of nightmarish creatures. Lorded only by a certain Count Dracula" says the priest, but as soon as he says that name I look at him, I know that name…somehow I do, like I've heard it before but…I don't know where from, but it sounds so familiar but I cant think where U have heard it from.

"Dracula?" asks Van, who I now notice is also looking at the cardinal in cardinal in confusion, he looks a little like he's heard that name before also, I look at the cardinal again seeing he is now turning the projector on.

Then I look at the image from the projector that displays the image of a man. He looks somehow familiar…

"Yes you've never faced one like this before. Our story begins four hundred and fifty years ago, when a Transylvanian night named Valerious the Elder...promised God that his family would never rest nor enter heaven...until they vanquished Dracula from their land. They have not succeeded...and they are running out of family. His descendant Boris Valerious, King of the Gypsies, he disappeared almost 12 months ago; is only son, Prince Velkan, and his daughter, Princess Anna. If the two of them are killed before Dracula is vanquished...nine generations of their family...will never enter the gates of St. Peter. For more than four centuries...this family has defended our left flank. They gave their lives. We cannot let them slip into purgatory" says the priest, while flicking through three other images of the father and the son and daughter, I see at the corner of my eye that Van is looking at the image of the woman, she is certainly beautiful, and looks strong too.

"So you're sending us into hell basically?" I say, though knowing this is going to happen and that this isn't a question.

"In a manner" he says in reply with a smirk which I return with a smile, then leading me and Van over to a table,

"Valerious the Elder left this here 400 years ago. We don't know its purpose...but he would not have left it lightly. The Latin inscription translates as: "In the name of God, open this door." There is an insignia. Yes, it matches your ring. I think that in Transylvania you may find the answers you seek." Says the cardinal, showing a piece of old parchment to Van and indeed the signia is the same as the one on Vans ring that he's never taken off for as long as I've known him.

"Cassandra?" says the cardinal, with this I look to him in reply,

"You may also find answers in Transylvania. We've finally been able to decipher the symbols of your necklace" he says, I look at him startled at this information, they've been trying to decipher the symbols on my necklace for many years but have never succeeded, ever since I came here they have tried and failed, but now they have deciphered it? I thought they had given up on it.

I nod when he says this, and he hands me a roll of parchment binded with a red cloth, but as I take it he keeps hold of it, bringing my attention back to him,

"Read this when you are on the ship to Romania. But my child, please remember after this who you are, and don't let the knowledge of what you are cloud your judgement" he says, I watch him as he says this and nod in understanding. I am not fully human, but we are not too sure about what my other abilities make me, there have been speculations but nothing concluded.

Finally he lets go of the parchment and then walks off, I look to Van seeing him watching and raises his eyebrows silently asking if I am ok, I nod in answer and then follow after him, keeping the parchment in hand, knowing that we are going to speak to our friend Carl, a friar of this church.

"Faster, please. Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster!" Is all we hear as we descend down the stairs to the weapons chamber. Seeing Carl doing another one of his experiments, and we're in time to see a man in a chair get covered in lightning, how on earth has he managed that?

"Ah there you are, so did you bring Mr. Hyde back or did you kill him? You killed him, didn't you? That's why they get so annoyed. When they ask you to bring someone back, they don't mean as a corpse" he says as we come up to him and we begin walking away from his work place, I give him a glare to hopefully get the idea of not pressing his luck,

"All right, you're in a mood. Come on. I have some things that'll put the bit back in your mouth." Says Carl,

"We didn't exactly kill him Carl, I did try to catch him" I say, looking at him annoyed, but he doesn't acknowledge me, he's not that over keen on me, especially from when he was younger and I accidentally scared him by showing my wings and scared the life out of him, he's still held that grudge.

I see Van go over to some of the swords in their racks, there I also spot mine so I go over to that section away from Van and Carl, getting annoyed with his side glances already,

"Any idiot can make a sword." Says Carl, but then the black smith comes up looking at Carl angrily, making me giggle slightly,

"Sorry, Father" says Carl, looking at the man fearfully,

"Come along Carl" says Van, leading him away.

"Hey, did you sharpen these while I was away?" I ask, finding my sais in their stand,

"Yeah, we also plaited pure silver onto them after we were told of your next mission to Transylvania, but we kept the hilts leather for you" said one of the blacksmiths, with this I smile and nod in thanks. Although I've apparently been ruled out as a vampire, my skin is highly sensitive to silver, so I have to be careful.

"Got anything new?" I ask, after strapping my sais to my boots inside their hidden slots and sheathing my sword,

"Well Carl told us to give you these, you'll have to ask him later, but Van has one the same. They'll give you the brief on how to work it and everything. And we've also repaired your daggers" he says now handing me my babies, as well as what appears to be a crossbow but looks definitely like Carl has been playing with it with all his "gadget" clearly on it.

"Glad to have them back" I say while smiling and sheathing my sword to my belt as well as my daggers, these beauties have been with me ever since I was found, so I've never allowed anyone else to use them and always try to take them with me on my missions, I would have brought them with me on mine and Vans mission before but they unbelievably broke after a great sword was used against them, so I had to keep them here to be repaired.

"Right, and have I any new bullets?" I ask, with this they smile and nod, now giving me a great bag,

"Use gloves while slotting them in Cassandra, their all silver" he says, from this I look up at him confused,

"What are we up against? An immortal or…?" I ask,

"Vampire and possibly a werewolf, anything else will either hate the silver or just hate the bullet" he says, from this I nod, why else with all the silver.

"Ok I'm going to go catch up with Van" I say, now taking hold of the crossbow that he'd mentioned earlier and make my way over to Van and Carl.

"This will come in handy how?" asks Van, looking at Carl confused, from what I can see he is holding something spherical but I have never seen the like of it before, definitely a Carl invention.

"I don't know. You can blind your enemies. Charbroil a herd of charging wildebeest. Use your imagination" says Carl while packing things into a sack,

"No, I'm going to use yours. That's why you're coming with us," says Van, well I didn't know this would happen, Carl coming with us on a mission, this should be amusing, as far as I'm aware he has never been out of the cathedral.

"Holy hell be damned I am!" he says, I raised my eyes at this, not just from the shock of hearing him curse but also the way he said it,

"You cursed" said Van, looking at Carl surprised,

"Not very well" I have to say honestly to Carl, which he shrugs at,

"But you're a monk. You shouldn't curse at all" says Van looking from me back to Carl disapprovingly.

"Actually I'm still just a friar I can curse all I want…damn it!" he says, causing me to smirk.

"The Cardinal has ordered you to keep us alive" says Van, now giving Carl the sack he was packing earlier, in turn I give him mine on top of Vans, hey he needs to get stronger if he's going to be travelling with us,

"For as long as possible" I say, following Van.

"But I'm not a field man. Van Helsing! Cassandra! I don't want to go to Transylvania!" yells Carl, who I hear is following us,

"Who ever said that we wanted to go Carl?" I ask, seeing Van looking over his shoulder at me and grinning which I return.


	4. Chapter 4

Van Helsing POV

Cassandra was very quiet before and during the travelling to Romania, the Cardinal gave her a parchment, which he said was the translation they had finally deciphered from her necklace that she never takes off. Its what appears to be a locket but she has never been able to open it as it has a key slot but we couldn't get it open when we tried without the key, which she doesn't have.

But it has engravings on the back; the thing itself is a tear drop shape and made of pure gold along with the chain which is made with the same material as the locket, unbelievably strong, nothing we possessed could even dent the thing, I should know as I even tried to saw it off but it broke the blade.

I look to the corner of my eye from looking out to sea towards our destination to see Cassie walking up to us, the look on her face evidence enough for me to know that something is wrong.

"Cassie" I say, catching her attention,

"You alright?" I ask, my eyes staying on her to watch her reaction, seeing her eyes lower slightly then come back to me, then her eyes flashing sideways, I nod at this understanding her meaning and we both walk to the front of the ship away from others to speak in private.

"I've read what the inscription says Van. And…I'm concerned" she says, I frown at this, more curious about what the inscription says,

"You can trust me Cassie, what does it say?" I ask, looking at her with concern,

"My beloved bride, I await the day where we are wed and where I may call you my wife. May this gift remind you of my endless love for you. C.R.D" she says, I listened intently to her from this, hearing all she said.

"I had someone who loved me, I had a fiancé Van. But now I have more questions" she says, looking out to the sea in front of us.

"There are always questions to answers Cassie. We just have to be patient", I say, looking forward,

"I've waited over four hundred years Van, how much longer can I wait. This person is more than likely dead by now. Any family or friends or love I may have had will have all been dead by now," she says, I can understand where she is coming from, I may have the same, I have been with Cassie longer than any other of the order thanks to my inhuman immortality.

"We'll get by Cassie I promise, anything that comes along we'll both know that we have each others backs" I say, I see a smile rise from her which earns a smile from myself.

After that conversation we mostly kept to ourselves the three of us on the ship and when we docked we hired a horse each and made our way towards Transylvania over the snowy mountains. It took about a week until we arrived at the village where the princess and prince reigned.

"So, what do you remember?" asks Carl after we have put our horses into a stable, we had been talking about what myself and Cassie remembered before entering the cathedral. But he wont let it go after we explained that we couldn't remember an awful lot, especially Cassie, I can remember some from before but only mildly, almost like remembering a dream.

"Not now, Carl" I say, as we walk further into the village centre, from entering we have had people staring at us, so anything revealing our plan this early may not go well, so Carl needs to keep his mouth shut.

"There must be something" he says, persistent, very persistent.

"I remember fighting the Romans at Masada" I say, after rolling my eyes wanting to just keep him quiet, the more we walk the more eyes are on us, and I am already seeing them coming closer to us,

"That was in 73 A.D," says Carl sounding confused and shocked,

"You asked," I say looking at him briefly, also seeing Cassie smirk slightly but like me also looking around at the villagers who are surrounding us slowly and most of them with weapons of their own making.

"What are we doing here? Why is it so important to kill this Dracula, anyway?" asks Carl

"Because he's the son of the Devil" says Cassie, and out of habit we both lower our hats to conceal our faces, we have worked together for so long that we even do this at the same time, we hardly notice these days but we catch glimpses of us doing it now and again.

"I mean, besides that," says Carl,

"If we kill him, anything bitten or created by him will also die" I say, internally rolling my eyes but keeping my eyes on the villagers.

"I mean, besides that" he says, I roll my eyes at this, he can be very persistent,

"Welcome to Transylvania" comes a male voice from behind, I turn around to see a man with raggedy long blond hair, top hat and long black coat, my guess he is the undertaker,

"Is it always like this?" asks Carl, my eyes scan around us, watching them to check if they make any moves that may result to injury…to them

"Pretty much" says Van, his head lowered to hide his face,

"You, turn around" says a females voice, sounds deep and full of confidence and authority. I glimpse at Van and we turn to the direction the voice is from, now facing a well with a woman stood on top of it,

"Let me see your faces" she says, obviously unable to see us from our hats and hood

"Why?" asks Van,

"Because we don't trust strangers" she says,

"Strangers don't last long here" says the man from earlier who I see taking Van's measurements, yep the coffin maker for definite, I hear him mutter his measurements before coming to me, I face him directly allowing him to see my face and my eyes, he freezes in shock when I do this, staring at my face or more specifically my eyes as I have made them turn bright blue, Van described them as being as light as a lit candle once.

"That's funny, you're all strangers to us and we don't trust you either. Keep your distance coffin maker," I say, allowing my eyes to dim to their normal blue colour, watching him back away from me, and then I lower my head so that the others don't see me.

"Gentlemen, lady, you will now be disarmed" she says, I raise my eyebrow at this, good luck with that.

"You can try," says Van, I smirk at this,

"You refuse to obey our laws?" she asks, though she doesn't sound surprised by this, I look up to her, allowing her to see me, she looks at me first and for a second I thought I saw recognition in her eyes, has she seen me before? I'm pretty sure that I have not been here before and I have not seen this woman before other than the photograph we saw in Romania,

"The laws of men mean little to me" says Van, who I see at the corner of my eye has raised his head to look at her, her eyes move from me to Van,

"Fine. Kill them!" she shouts, I hear the villagers agreeing and coming closer to us,

"We're here to help you," he says, stepping closer to her,

"I don't need any help" she says, too over confidant, I lower my hand to the strap that keeps my sack on my shoulders. Seeing what Van has seen in the distance in the sky,

"Really?" says Van, and swiftly drops his bag and brings out the crossbow and aims it in the direction of Miss Valarius, who instinctually ducks in time for Van to start shooting at…oh those are vampires.

I stare at the three of them a little in shock, their wings…they're like mine?

"Everybody inside!" shouts the princess, I snap out of my shock then drop my bag and hurriedly shake my coat off and then look to Van who I see is firing at the vampires, not sure if I should bring my wings out with all these villagers who are very obviously terrified of the these vampires.

"Cassandra! You had better get up there!" he shouts, quickly looking at me, I nod at this then look up at the three and while glaring at them I bring out my wings, catching a few glances from the villagers around me and then fly up to the sky after them,

"Who are you!" screams one of them who appears in front of me, I glare at her after she snarls at me,

"Your worst nightmare!" I shout, flying at her with my dagger in hand after getting it out from my boot, she hisses at me and I follow after her, I swear she is so annoying with her screeching.

"Marishka, kill the stranger" I hear one of the others say, I turn at hearing this and fly at them, hearing the dark haired one hiss when I approach her and follow after her, ending up in circling one another a few times, her narrowly missing my knives a few times.

I manage to finally get the vampire with my knife hearing her scream, yep silver definitely has an effect on them after seeing the smoke come off her wound, I laugh at her from this, but then suddenly see her turn around a building but not come out, I look around for her but don't see her, then notice them all missing. I look down to find Van looking around for them as well.

Silently I land on the floor, making sure to do this behind a building and putting my wings away and hurry over to Van,

"It's the sun" says Carl, I look to him understanding his explanation as being the reason why the vampire women have disappeared, I keep my eyes peeled for them as well as listening out for anything, seeing Van and the princess also looking around for them, but suddenly I hear a slight water movement but echoed, I look around and then fix my eyes on the well from where the sound came from, I start to slowly walk towards it, both daggers in hand.

I look to the corner of my eye to see Van and the princess copying my movement, presumably from seeing me, and Van knows and trusts my instincts and extra powerful hearing. Just as the three of us approach the well we look to one another and then finally nod then quickly lean forward with our weapons raised, but not seeing any of them in sight.

"Van Helsing" I hear Carl say behind us, I look to him to see what is the matter, but before I have time to register I hear screeches and look in time to see them fly out of the well, with one of them carrying the princess by the ankle, I quickly fly after them

"Do you like to fly, Anna?" says the blond schreecher, I try to catch up to them but am suddenly thrown off by the dark haired one, I glare at her for this, seeing her hissing at me, I fly after her but am then thrown off again by the blond one, I fly straight after her, unable to contain my frustration,

"Holy water!" shouts Carl I try to stop the brunette but she manages to catch the vial that Carl was trying to throw to Van,

"Stop your teasing, Marishka, and finish him!" shouts the woman, I snarl at her from this and swoop after her ready to stab the bitch in the heart. But suddenly she stops and then without warning she throws me against a building and not a second later all I see is black.


	5. Chapter 5

Van Helsing POV

Well at least I have the princess' acceptance for now. However looking around I fail to see Cassie, I haven't seen her since she was chasing that brunette vampire, not since the two disappeared after I stacked the other one. I look to Carl in question, he starts to look around as well, I look to the princess at this,

"My friend is missing," I say, from this she looks at me suspiciously,

"The woman who could fly, who has their wings" she says, I lower my head at this to hide my eye roll people are far too judgmental.

"She isn't what you think she is. She isn't a danger to this village or to anyone of you, her name is Cassandra, my hunting partner, I'm sure if you have heard of me, then you have heard of her" I say after looking back up at her,

"Yes, she is known here as the Demon Huntress, her powers and…wings were described by travellers, but if you say she can be trusted then I will believe you, I saw her fight against the brides. Come I believe I saw her last over there" she says, leading me towards a building, I look around to see if I can spot her, but finally when Anna stops and looks around, I start to do the same too, not seeing her anywhere, but then notice an arm handing from over the roofs edge,

"Cassandra!" I shout, running into the building and climbing up the stairs, hurrying over to the window that is facing where Cassandra was, quickly climbing out and carefully walk on the roof to find Cassandra lying face up with a bloody nose and her wings still out…and a wooden stake in her right wing damn it! I carefully pick her up, making sure to gently lift her wing off of the stake, thankfully seeing it begin to heal, but it will take a while to fully heal.

I bring us out of the building with Cassandra in my arms bridal style, being careful with her wings, I had carefully folded them into her back so that I don't drop them or damage them further.

"Is there an inn that will take us in?" I ask the princess, after bringing her down from the roof, she looks around then looks back at us,

"No, but you may stay in my castle as my guests" she says, I nod at this, I look to Carl who has our bags on the horses, I tie Cassie's horse to the back of mine and with Cassie in front of me the three of us follow behind the princess to her castle, it's an impressive size and all throughout the journey her and Carl were none stop talking about the journey. Well this should be interesting.

Dracula POV

Ah I do love this dream, the day I met my beloved, I have these so rarely I can't remember the last time I had a dream of her…my dearest Cassandra.

I was riding towards my castle after a fencing tournament and I saw a sight I was never going to forget, a woman fighting a group of bandits and winning, she had given me a mouthful afterwards when I had asked if she needed help and claimed that I thought that because she was a woman that she would need help. It was that day I learned to never judge a book by its cover or to think that a woman was not capable of more than housework and being a wife to bare children. After that day my life changed, and oh so wonderfully.

But after that war with Gabriel, she disappeared, and I have not seen her since, I tried to find her, I searched the entire globe looking for her, but nothing and no mortal or immortal had seen her, I was forced to give up hope, and face the truth that I would never see her again, only in my dreams.

Suddenly I feel a ripping sensation through me, I know that feeling too, one of my vampires has died and from the oncoming agony screams of two of my brides, I know that it is from one of them being killed and from their voices I know that it was my Marishka who has gone, but how? My Marishka was far too powerful for those villagers, someone else must have come to help them, how dare they! Those filthy villagers they killed her - my Marishka!

"Marishka!" I scream, coming out of my ice coffin, (I really want to say that he likes to chill but I don't think that would go well with him)

"Why can't they just leave us alone? We never kill more than our fill, and less than our share – can they same the same?" I ask, now walking up the wall towards my brides, I need to know what has happened.

"Did I not stress how important it was to be finished with Anna Valerious, before she destroys what we are trying to create?" I ask, seeing the two flee backwards from me but stop,

"We lost Marishka. Master" they say

"There, there, my darlings. Do not worry - I shall find another bride" I say, with a slight shrug, I can easily find someone else, it doesn't mean much to me, it will keep them company, the one bride I truly wanted disappeared over four hundred years ago, she was the only one I loved and ever will.

"What?! Do we mean so little to you? Have you no heart?" they ask, seeing them begin to weep, I glare at them they know I have no heart, not since…well they don't know about her as I keep my old life secret from them and that is how I have liked it for this long.

"No, I have no heart! I feel no love! Nor fear...nor joy...nor sorrow! I am hollow. And I will live forever" I say after jumping from the ceiling to the floor,

"Oh my Lord. - It is not so bad" they say, I reign in my anger and let it out in a loud laugh,

"I am at war with the world...and every living soul in it. But soon the final battle will begin" I say,

"My lord, the three who killed Marishka, we believe that one was a monk, he knew about our weaknesses and there was one who is a trained hunter. He had all the weapons and skill to kill, it was he who killed Marishka" says Aleera, I look up at them from this,

"And the other one, who said there were three" I say, looking at them in question,

"It was a woman master, but…she was different, she had wings! They were like ours master she was like us, but she doesn't fully turn. She even caught me with her blade! She could fly as fast and her eyes glowed blue. But I threw her against a building and I saw a stake run through her. I believe she is dead," says Verona, I stare at her from this, who could that woman have been? A woman with vampiric traits…how is that possible? When you are bitten you go through the whole transaction, you cannot only have certain vampiric traits. I wonder who she was, but then if she is dead that is one threat taken care of and therefore none of my concern.

"I must go and find out who our new visitors are" I say, and then suddenly interrupted from my train of though when I hear and see the shadow of our new werewolf chained to the wall, he is under-going training as I can see,

"You will have to make a little ap ritif out of him. We are much too close to success to be interrupted now." I say, planning in my mind how I am to proceed with these visitors, they will have to pay for Marishkas death, they have lost a comrade but that is not enough!

"No! The last experiment was a failure! Please, say you will not try again. My heart could not bear the sorrow if we fail again." They beg after coming down to my level, but before they continue I give them a glimpse of my anger, frightening them away, seeing them cower away and crying in fear, that's good they should fear me, but looking at them I pity them, but I also know that I need them so I will just have to try and calm them down AGAIN and I extend my arms out to them,

"Come. Do not fear me. Everybody else fears me. Not my brides" I say, allowing them to come to me and hug me, I hear the werewolf being shocked again,

"Igor." I say, ignoring these women doting on me,

"Yes, master." He says, walking around the curtain from where I could see him torturing the werewolf previously,

"Why do you torment that thing so?" I ask, not really caring but anything to distract me from these two,

"It's what I do." He says,

"Remember, Igor, "Do unto others..." but then allow him to finish as I have taught him this since he started within my service,

"Before they do unto me, master." He says,

"Now go, all of you! - To Castle Frankenstein!" I say, taking the three of us through my magic mirror to take us to the castle.


	6. Chapter 6

Van POV

It thankfully didn't take too long to get to the castle, I had to carry Cassie in front of me on horseback, she still hasn't woken up, though I believe that it would be for the best, what with the amount of questioning that the princess has been asking, and with Carl very eager to answer them all, I'm pretty sure I am getting a headache,

"So, how did you get here?" she asks, now entering within a large room with cases of weapons and seating arrangements, I place Cassie gently on one of the settees so she can rest more, again being careful of her wings, they don't retract unless she is awake and does it on purpose,

"We came by sea," says Carl, following her further into the room where I follow after them after checking that Cassie will be alright,

"Really? The sea?" she asks, anyone would think that she's never seen the sea with the wonder in her voice when she says that,

"Well, yes." Says Carl

"The Adriatic Sea?" she asks, but I interrupt, we need to get down to business,

"Where do I find Dracula?" I ask, seeing them pause at my interruption,

"He used to live in this very house four centuries ago, no one knows where he lives now. My father would stare at that painting for hours...looking for Dracula's lair. So that's why you've come?" she asks, going over to a case that I can see has weapons within, I'll have to have a browse of them,

"We can help you." I say, as if it isn't obvious, I did just kill a vampire today, which apparently according to Anna hasn't been done in over a hundred years,

"No one can help me"

"I can try" I say, I know I sound confident but it is because I know I can, and with Cassie by my side I cant lose,

"You can die trying. All of my family has, I can handle this myself" she says, equipping herself with weapons, but I have to retain a laugh at this, she really showed that today with her flying lessons with the vampires,

"So I noticed" I say, but she rounds on me from this, must have hit a nerve, that and embarrassment about being caught today,

"The vampires attacked in daylight. They never do that I was unprepared. It won't happen again" she says,

"So why did they attack in daylight?" I ask,

"Clearly they wanted to catch me off guard. They seem almost desperate to finish off my family" she says, I frown at this, why now? Why this certain time and generation?

"Why is that? Why now?" asking my questions I was thinking to her, with luck she will know and tell me,

"You ask a lot of questions" she says, I shrug at this,

"Usually I ask only two: What are we dealing with? How do I kill it?" I say, knowing that usually its Cassie that asks more questions, not me, really I should do as it helps immensely more to know more, but I'm not very patient as Cassie has pointed out on many occasions,

"My father spent most of his life looking for answers year after year. Tearing through the tower, combing through the family archives" she says, crossing her arms after now apparently finished with arming herself with as many weapons as she can fit on herself,

"Carl, the tower. Start there" I say, turning and facing him when I say this,

"Right" he says, now leaving the room,

"The only way to save your family is to stay alive till Dracula's killed." I say, now facing back at the princess,

"And who will kill him if not me? Who will show courage if not me?" she asks, facing me directly,

"Go alone and you'll be outmanned and out positioned. And you can't see in the dark. In the morning, we will hunt him... but we'll do it together." I say, not wanting to go on a hunt without Cassie, I can see in the dark very well but nothing compared to Cassie's sight in the dark, and by then she will have healed fully, I catch hold of her weapon that she raises out of the display case, knowing that she wasn't going to use it against me, but catching her off guard, but also catching her attention, I must says she does have beautiful eyes,

"Some say you're a murderer, Mr. Van Helsing. Others say you're a holy man. Which is it?" she asks, letting go of the weapon,

"It's a bit of both, I think" I say, though then noticing her eyes going behind me, I'm guessing to Cassie,

"And…what about her? The famous Demon Huntress, I believe you when you say she can be trusted, but…I saw her wings, she has the same as the vampires. And I saw her eyes, I have never seen eyes like that before, not even with the women, what is she?" she asks, I turn to look at Cassie, no-one has ever really known WHAT Cassie is, not the monks or anyone, no tales about her, or anything in any myths or legends, the closest anyone ever thought her to be with her characteristics was a vampire, but she doesn't rely on blood to sustain her life,

"The monks once thought she was a demon, but ruled that out after a hundred years and the fact that she could go on hallowed ground without being turned to dust, then they for a small time thought her to be a vampire, but ruled that out also because of her lack of need for blood, to be honest even I don't know what she is. But I know WHO she is. She is my hunting partner, she is a friend and a sister. Not by blood but she may as well be, ever since we started working together we have always watched out for one another and always will" I say, my eyes still on Cassie, then after a minute I look back to Anna, though I see her looking at her also but with questions in her eyes,

"I understand you do not feel safe around her, but she would never harm innocents or humans unless they harmed her first" I say, but she looks at me startled from this, but then back to Cassie,

"It is not that…I have…seen her before, I do not know where though, but her face is very familiar" she says, I frown at this,

"Wanted posters?" I ask, knowing that our faces are on wanted places all over the world practically, but she shakes her head,

"I have never seen wanted posters of either of you" she says, I frown at this, more confused, where else could she have seen Cassie? She takes in a deep breath then looks to me with a more calm look, apparently dismissing whatever was in her mind,

"I promised you a drink" she says, I nod at this, letting the conversation go for now,

"Yes, you did" I say, knowing that I could really do with one right about now,

"The bar is down the hall. Help yourself. As for me, I'm going to finish this once and for all" she says, no walking away from me, I roll my eyes from this and follow after her,

"I'm sorry you've to carry this burden alone" I say,

"On the contrary, I would wish for it no other way" she says, of course she would, where she would then be killed,

"I'm sorry about your father and brother," I say,

"I will see them again. We Transylvanians always look on the brighter side of death" she says, I frown at this,

"There's a brighter side of death?" I ask, looking at her confused, she stops at this, looking at me with a calm expression, as if the thought was a good one,

"Yes. It's just harder to see" she says, but I pause her for a second, seeing her look at me confused, until Cassie comes from behind her and just as Anna looks at her Cassie sprays her with the sleeping mist spray, I catch her just in time before she falls,

"I'm sorry about that, too" I say, now looking up to Cassie, seeing her smile at me which I nod at, though looking at her wing that still looks like it needs more time to heal,

"How was your nap?" I ask, lifting the princess up into my arms better, now walking down the hall to see if I can find a room with a bed for the princess,

"Refreshing, though would have been a lot less painful if someone had remembered to take the knives out of where I had them in my back sheath" she says, I grimace at that, forgetting that she had her knives in there,

"My apologies" I say, finally finding a room with a bed where I rest the princess down on,

"So, did I miss anything interesting?" she asks at the doorway, which I walk over to before closing the door,

"This castle was once the home of Dracula over four hundred years ago. Her father researched most of his life looking for a way to find him, and apparently we have a tower full of research to look through, and we have unlimited use of the bar" I say, she smirks at this, I smile at this as I lead her to the bar that the princess mentioned, we'll get a drink each and a water for carl.


	7. Chapter 7

Cassandra POV

I can't believe that we have been in this tower for over three hours with nothing to show for it, I must have read fifteen books and I've learned about Transylvanian history and culture, as well as telling us more about vampires which we already knew.

"Have you found anything?" I ask, looking to Carl at the end of the table, Van was leaning against the wall reading,

"Yes, its all very fascinating, I've learned about all the many villages and when they grow their crops" he says, I raise my eyebrow at this, what the hell? That has nothing to do with any this,

"Carl, we need information on Dracula and how to kill him, not about what the villagers are farming" says Van, I agree with this, looking back to Carl, I stand up from the seat and go to the window, it's a beautiful view here, the mountains are so high you would think they never end, and the forests and the stream…my eyes wont leave it, that stream from this view looks so familiar, why do I feel like I know it? I feel like I've seen it in a memory, only I have arms wrapped around me while looking out on it, strong and loving arms, that make me feel safe and loved…

"Cassie, Cassie? Cassie!"

I blink and turn around looking at Van from hearing him shout, he grabs hold of his crossbow, I look to the door and can vaguely smell something…I hurry after as he leaves the room, keeping my wings folded as I run after him. Before rounding the corner where we were previously I hear a gun shot and round the corner in time to see a werewolf near Anna, I run after the werewolf seeing it run at the window and jump out, but without stopping I run after it and jump out the window after it. I see that it has gone into the water and just before I reach him I unfold my wings, sweeping across the surface of the water, grateful beyond measure that my wing is fully healed otherwise this would be incredibly painful. I fly higher towards the town area when I saw him emerge from the water and keep to the sky so that Van will be able to see me knowing that I will stay near where I can smell the werewolf.

I look down in time to see Van walking into the centre of the town, I start to descend towards him, seeing him relax slightly with me approaching,

"See where he went?" he asks, I shake my head, unfortunately I blinked and the furry ass disappeared,

"Not sure but he is still here, I can smell him" I say, looking around for any signs of him.

"Nice night" we both turn to the sound with Van's crossbow aimed and my knives drawn, only to see the coffin maker stood within a coffin,

"This is a bit tight for me" he says walking out of the coffin and walking around but us mimicking his movements,

"But for you it's a perfect fit. Not for the lady however, I think a bit smaller, and with a stake perhaps" he says, I narrow my eyes at him for the implication,

"What a coincidence. I see the wolf man hasn't killed you yet." He says, walking over to where I see he is digging into the ground.

"Don't worry, he's getting to it. You don't seem bothered." Says Van, I watch this coffin maker I don't like him,

"I'm no threat to him. I'm just the one who cleans up after him...if you get my meaning." He says, I roll my eyes, was a little obvious considering how well he knows about coffins,

"Little late to be digging graves, isn't it?" asks, Van.

"Never too late to dig graves. You never know when you'll need a fresh one" he says, and thankfully I was still watching him as I catch his shovel before it hit Van, and Van aiming his gun at him, me glaring at the man for daring to try this kind of thing with us, he must have a death wish.

"Oh, sorry! It's just my nature" he says, but then his eyes look to somewhere behind us and that when I realise my mistake, I was concentrating on the man so much that I wasn't paying attention to the very reason we are out here. Quickly I turn and duck just in time that the werewolf jumped at us and went for the coffin maker. We both stand to attention and look for the werewolf, seeing Van aiming at the werewolf,

"No!" shouts Anna who without warning stops Van's shot, I look at her in alarm, but I quickly realise that it is because of her brother, I fly off after the werewolf, hopefully I will be able to find him and keep better track of him.

However when I stop a mile away from a castle I stop and land, looking at it questioningly, why would it come here?

I must have been crouched here for a while before I hear voices behind me; I look in time to see Van and Anna approaching,

"Werewolves only shed before the first full moon. Before the curse has completely consumed them" she says, both of them now stood beside me,

"What is this place?" asks Van, that's what I want to know,

"Castle Frankenstein. But it should be abandoned. I don't understand. The man who lived here was killed a year ago- A grave robber, among other things" she says, I frown at this, I remember reading about a Frankenstein, a scientist who was working on creating life, but the villagers weren't happy with his methods, especially when he started robbing the graves with their loved ones. His creations and himself were killed in a fire I believe.

"A year ago. It was just after that that your father went missing," says Van, hmm a coincidence perhaps? Why would Anna's father go missing around the same time that Frankenstein died?

"Yes. He was looking for Dracula. He was on his way to the sea. I have never been to the sea. I'll bet it's beautiful," says Anna, I look to him for this,

"Beautiful but deadly, can lead you to more things then you can imagine. But the sound of it can make you so at peace you sometimes forget where you are going" I say, she looks to me for this, I believe the beginnings of a smile are there, I look back to the castle,

"Well if your brother is in there, I would bet that he isn't alone, what I want to know is what would these people need a werewolf for" I say. I look to Van and see him nod, the both of us knowing that we'll be going in there.


	8. Chapter 8

Dracula POV

This must work! We have to get the children to become alive! I need more eyes around the world, I must find out what happened to my beloved Cassandra. If it wasn't for that Van Helsing I would have never lost her!

He was once like a brother to me, I trusted him, I trusted him to protect her, but he took her! I know he took her and I don't know what happened to her, I know he had did something. When I returned back to my castle after fighting the armies to keep my country safe, to keep _**her**_ safe, but she wasn't there, and nor was Van Helsing and I swore that I would stay on this earth until I was reunited with her and kill Van Helsing.

Suddenly a smell enters my nostrils that brings me back to the present, looks like our prince has returned, I know he went to try and warn his sister, even though I had him go to only find out about our new visitors, probably mourning over their loss after my wives told me they killed on of them, however my control on him is strong, as soon as I found that he had escaped I had his lips sealed and forced the change on him before he could tell her any of my secrets.

"Werewolves are such a nuisance during their first full moon. So hard to control. I send you on a simple errand... to find out who our new visitor is...and you have to stop for a little chat with your sister." I say, watching the werewolf change into his human form.

"Leave her out of this, Count. She doesn't know your secret. And I am soon to take it to my grave" he says, looking exhausted, he will do with him still being a new werewolf, but he will be the missing piece of the puzzle, he HAS to be!

"Don't wish for death so quickly. I intend for you to be quite useful," I say, watching the Dwergi strapping him in,

"I would rather die than help you" he says, I roll my eyes at this, they can never come up with anything more original. My dear Cassandra, she never spoke the same phrase, she always came up with something new, always surprised me with what she would respond with, she would have the mouth of a sailor when someone angered her, but she had the beauty of a siren, and I loved to hear her music

"Don't be boring. Everyone who says that dies. Besides, tonight...after the final stroke of midnight... you will have no choice but to obey me. Look familiar?" I ask, watching as he looks at the corpse that just fell from the table, knowing it to be his father that we experimented on last time, but was unsuccessful.

"Father? No!" he screams about to come at me, but I stop him merely by putting a finger under his chin,

"He proved useless. But I'm hoping, with werewolf venom running through your veins... you will be of greater benefit!" I sneer at him; I will not let anything ruin my plans.

"I may have failed to kill you, Count, but my sister will not. Never!" he screams, I close my eyes and imagine my beloved, the look on her face when I find her, having her in my arms, and dancing with her in my arms, I begin to dance on the spot, pretending that I truly do have her in my arms. I will find you my beloved, my Cassandra, and I will never let you go.

Cassandra

Getting in was remarkably easy, no guards or anything like that, but there is definitely something going on here, and this place is filthy.

Suddenly I stop hearing someone coming, I hold my hand up for Van to know, the three of us hidden from sight…what the heck are those things?

"Dwergi" says Anna, I look to her from this,

"Dwergi?" says Van, equally confused as I am,

"Dracula's servants. Industrious but extremely vicious. If you get the chance to kill one, do it - because they'll do worse to you" she says, I nod at this, watching them, their small, and have very strange faces, speaking in a strange language,

"They say they're using my brother in some sort of experiment. My brother is still battling the sickness within him- there's still hope" says Anna, but I watch and see Van holding her still, stopping her from going after them, I look out to make sure there aren't any others,

"They're gone, lets go" I say, stepping out and going towards another room, hearing the two of them following me, however as we get further in, it keeps getting weirder, there are hundreds of sacks hanging from the ceiling around us, there's no way of avoiding touching them, their slightly slimy as well,

"You ever see these things?" asks Van, I look at them a little more closely getting a better idea of what these are

"No, what do you think they are?" she asks,

"Offspring" I say finally, remembering a mission me and Van went on to kill a succubus, and she had laid eggs similar to these before we set her and her babies on fire.

"What?" asks Anna,

"A man with three gorgeous women for 400 years" says Van, I roll my eyes at this,

"Yes, vampires are the walking dead. It only makes sense their children are born dead" says Anna, but I stop and see that there are even more further on, waiting fro them to catch up,

"He's obviously trying to bring them to life" says Van, I look to him in question of this,

"How is that obvious?" I ask,

"Why else would he keep all these here, and have so many?" he says, I look to them for this, that's a lot of dead babies to feed,

"Ladies first" says Van, I glare at him for this, not waiting to ask Anna, I go first,

"Who ever says chivalry is dead?" I say, walking forward,

"Dracula and his brides only kill one or two people a month. If he brings all these things to life..." Van says, but doesn't need to finish, that much is obvious, but why do all this in the first place? World domination? What is the motive?

I stop when I realise after a little that they aren't following, looking around to see that they are looking at one sack in front of them, I walk over to them, watching as Van takes his glove off one of his hands,

"What are you doing?" asks Van, I look to her then back to him,

"I want to see what we're up against." He says, piercing his hand into the sack, I grimace at this, I swear he does some of these things to creep me out, grabbing chunks out to get further in, I pull Anna closer to me in time before Van threw some of the chunks out, she nods at me in appreciation, I nod in turn, the amount of times Van has done that and caught me by accident, you learn to know where to stand when he's doing this kind of stuff.

"So this is what you get when vampires mate" says Van, me and Anna step closer to see a head inside that you can see thanks to the whole that Van made, I look at it closely, very strange creature I must admit, though when I see Van about to touch it, when it suddenly cries out, I aim my gun at it, it suddenly being quiet, I frown at it from this, as if it knows what I'm doing. I look to Van and him shaking his head unknowing.

"So what do you think? Boy or girl?" I ask, smirking, looking at the two, both unable to resist a small smile, what can I say I light to lighten a dark mood.

I hear a buzzing noise from somewhere and it getting louder, when suddenly lightning surrounds the sacks momentarily. I look questioningly at them, when suddenly the creature comes out of the sack, flying in front of us and then flies away, along with the others around us,

"Come on!" shouts Van, us running away from them, I look around, hearing shouting from somewhere, but the voice sounds vaguely familiar,

"This is where I come in," says Van, I look at him alarmed, keeping Anna with me near the wall,

"No, wait!" she shouts, but I keep a good hand on her,

"Your brother is at the top of the building" I say, looking up, smelling the dogs smell, we need Anna out of the way if the vampires come along, her brother will be the best opportunity, she looks to me and looks up, I nod at her and watch her leave, as soon as she rounds the corner I look back to Van to see him still shooting the baby vampires. Pausing after a last shot,

"Now that I have your attention..." he says, I'm assuming talking to someone, my question answered when I hear a loud growling, like nothing I have ever heard before, I hide behind a pillar keeping out of sight.

"I can tell the character of a man by the sound of his heartbeat. Usually when I approach... I can almost dance to the beat. Strange that yours is so steady. I can just about sense another with you…very interesting…their heart beat…I can only just hear it, like they are next to death."

I swear I feel like my heart was beating loudly when I heard his voice, it sounds so familiar, but I can't get a face to the voice, who is he? Every step he takes I hear him, his clapping everything I can hear very clearly, but I don't want to hear sounds I want to see his face!

I suddenly hear a scream, sounds like Van staked someone, I look around the pillar and see the mans back to me with Van facing him and me,

"Resquieta in Pace" he says, but then I see the man pause as if in no pain at all,

"Hello, Gabriel" he says, my eyes widen, did he just call Van Gabriel?

 _Flash Back_

" _ **Good evening Gabriel, he told me that he asked you to protect me, you of all people know I don't need protecting" I say, stood in a grand living room, seeing Gabriel walking in,**_

" _ **I know, and so does he but he worries about you when he's away" he says**_

 _End Flash Back_

I stagger back, hitting my back against the pillar after experiencing that flash back, seeing myself like that, seeing Van like that, even just knowing that I knew Van all those years ago. My breathing erratic, trying to get my heart to calm down,

"Well…sounds like their heart has certainly come to life. Now…." He says, grunting in what sounds like pain, presumably from taking out the stake I saw in his chest,

"Is this your silver stake? How long has it been? 300, 400 years? You don't remember, do you?" he says, I look behind me slightly, still staying out of sight but able to see them.

"Exactly what is it I should be remembering?" Van asks, looking at him warily, I'm not surprised considering this is the first time anyone has ever called him anything but Van Helsing.

"You are the great Van Helsing. Trained by monks and mullahs from Tibet to Istanbul. Protected by Rome herself. But, like me, hunted by all others. And in doing all this with your famed hunting partner, where is she by the way, somewhere close by a suppose, waiting for the best time to strike" he says,

"The Knights of the Holy Order know all about you. It's no surprise you would know about me. Yes, but it's much more than this. We have such history, you and I, Gabriel. Have you ever wondered why you have such horrible nightmares? Horrific scenes of ancient battles past." He says, I frown more at this with what he says, he must know Van, none of this has ever been told to the public, did he know Van in the past?

"How do you know me?" asks Van, I can tell he is breaking, all he's ever wanted was answers, just like me to our pasts.

So would you like me to refresh your memory a little? A few details from your sordid past? Perhaps that is a conversation for another time." He says, but at this angle I can just about see his face, and I swear I've seen him before, a tickling in the back of my head, where the hell do I know him?

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Count Vladislaus Dragulia. Born 1422. Murdered 1462. The very same year you stole the most important being to me Gabriel, the same year I was meant to be with her for the rest of my life! And you stole her! And I want her back!" he roars, a sound that sounds like has come from hell itself.

Suddenly I hear screams that sounds like they belong to the female vampires, causing Dracula to turn his back on Van, but he quickly tried to catch Van however thankfully Van is quick thinking and runs and breaks a clamp to go souring up to the next floor holding on to the rope taking him up. I look to Dracula to see the anger in his face at the retreating form of Vlad, I quickly take this opportunity to bring my wings out, keeping my eyes away from Dracula and run towards the hole in the wall leading outside, hearing some shouting and without looking behind me I dive out, stretching my wings and flying away, keeping an eye out for Van and Anna, with some luck they got away ok.

But how is it that both Van and I know Dracula?


	9. Chapter 9

Dracula POV

I don't believe it, I simply can't…my beloved Cassandra, I saw her – I'm sure of it! I would know that face anywhere.

But how is she here? And with _**him!**_ After what he did to her?

But perhaps with Van Helsing's lack of memory, she may suffer the same, why else would she leave me? She must have been the one I heard when I heard that strange heartbeat, but how? She not only sounds like she has a dying heart, but wings like mine? Not even my brides have wings like mine.

So many questions in my mind, I must find her and have answers,

"I am sorry, master. We try and we try...but I fear we are not so smart as Dr. Frankenstein," says Igor, I refrain myself from rolling my eyes, considering the loss we had with the children, I nearly killed the women for distracting me from getting Van AND Cassandra. If only I had known she was there then I would never have let her leave.

"Truly. It would appear the good doctor took the key to life to his grave. Hunt them down. Kill them both. But leave the one with the wings, she is mine" I say, talking to the werewolf, now that he is under my full control it will be much easier to use him, or kill him if he dares to harm her.

"Master, let me kill that bitch, if it wasn't for those three our children may be alive" says Marishka, I snarl at her angrily, both the women cowering away from me,

"No-one harms her! It would not have mattered if they were here or not, the experiment failed" I say, looking out to the skies. Searching for those giant wings.

Suddenly something catches my eye in the woods,

"Follow Van Helsing and the princess, I will find the woman," I say, transforming into my other form, and diving off the top of the building, hearing the women going the other way.

I get to the edge of the woods and transform back, if she is here I do not want to frighten her too much, I must have walked a mile before I began to sense her, beginning to hear her heart beat again,

"Good to hear that you have calmed down since last I heard your lovely heart beat" I say, listening for her and looking and watching everything.

Startlingly I feel a sharp object in my back, I pause at this, how did she do that?

"Why did you follow me?"

I smile, closing my eyes, committing that one sentence to heart, the sound of her voice, I never thought I would hear that sound again,

"I have been looking for you for over four hundred years" I say, turning slowly, the weapon still on me, but I would take being killed every day for the rest of my existence to be able to look at this face.

She hasn't changed a bit, her hair as long and as untamed as the day I met her, her eyes as enchanting as when they first put me under their spell.

"Why?" she asks, looking at me questioningly, that's when I notice the necklace, I stare at it in shock, I had completely forgotten about it,

"Because my dear, I never forgot about you, and I never stopped loving you," I say, after taking my eyes off the locket and onto her again, she frowns at my words, I can tell she is getting frustrated by all this, she really doesn't remember.

"I can prove that I know you" I say she narrows her eyes at this,

"How?" I smile at her for this, and incline to her locket,

"I will open your locket, and inside you will see" I say, she looks down at it for a second, then looks back at me,

"If you try anything, I don't care how I will do it, I will stake you to a tree so hard you'll get blisters" she says, and with one hand begins to take her necklace off, though hesitantly she hands it over, clearly she has held it dear for as long as she has had it, this brings great joy to me.

I look to her and then bring out my own necklace, though this one unlike the locket, is a key, and underneath the locket is a small hole for it to go in, and watching her reaction when I do this of shock and further confusion, I use the key to unlock her locket, and then hand it to her, her staring at it in shock, taking it shakily, her eyes go to me and then carefully she looks inside the locket.

However, after a few seconds of her eyes resting on the image in the locket, I see her eyes roll back and she falls to the ground, but I catch her before she hits the ground, one arm around her waist and the other at the back of her head, looking at her, every inch of her.

I have been looking for this one woman for so long, and now finally…Finally! I have her! I pull her close to me, the feeling of having her in my arms…I feel like I have a heart again.

I put her necklace back on and pick her up, the way that I would have if we had been wed.

But we shall my love, if it is the last thing I do.

I bring out my wings and my form, and fly us to my summer palace, it is closer and I am hoping that the memories there will help her.

I bring us into my room, it is clean and warm, and after laying her down on the bed, I light the candles in it, to maintain the warmth for her. I watch her sleep, I still cannot grasp that she is truly here, that I am not dreaming, that I really do have her here with me.

After a little while I see her begin to stir, I ready myself for any and all reactions from her.

Her eyes finally open and she looks around the room, finally resting on me,

"Vladislaus?" I exhale at her for this, hearing her call me by my first name, the only person I allowed to call me by that name. I walk over to her, seeing her still watching me a little warily, but as I sit on the chair beside her, she seems to relax some, her eyes on me, not as much fear or suspicion as she had for me earlier,

"Cassandra, where have you been?" I ask, she looks at me and with the beginnings of tears in my eyes,

"Gabriel, he took me, said you told him to take me somewhere safe, only he knocked me out, I didn't see – I should have seen! But I don't…he took me somewhere I don't know where! I don't remember! He said such things! Things I know were not true! He took me away from my home! From you!" she cries, I cannot stand to see more tears from her, I hurriedly sit on the bed and pull her into my arms which she more than willingly accepts, her arms going around me, I pull her to sit her on my lap, her face in my neck, I feel her tears on my flesh but I do not care, I stroke her hair to help try to calm her down,

"I thought I was never going to see you again. I begged him to take me back to you but he wouldn't!" she cries, I hold her a little closer to me, I always suspected that it was Gabrielle that took her from me, but I also had that fear that perhaps she had left willingly. But hearing that that was not the case is a great relief to me.

"I searched the earth for you, I went everywhere I could to find you, but no-one claimed to have seen you, and I couldn't find you anywhere, I feared I would run out of time. So, I made sure that I would have more time to search for you" I say, at this she slowly leans away from my neck to look at me,

"You made a deal to become a vampire" she says, I nod at this in answer to her question,

"I do not regret that decision my love, it gave me the time to finally find you, for you to finally come back to Transylvania, to our home, to me" I say, she has a little faraway look after I mention this, but something is still puzzling me,

"Do you know how you are still alive my love, you have wings the same as my own, but I have seen what you appear as when you turn, you don't turn completely" I say, she nods at this,

"No-one knew, not even myself, I don't require blood to stay alive, I heal quicker than a human and I haven't aged in centuries" she says, I nod in understanding, I must admit a little envious of her not needing blood to sustain herself, but I am beyond grateful that it kept her alive.

"Those women…and those children, Vladislaus…did you decide to give up on me?" she asks, I look to her in shock, how could she ever think that? I see the fear in her eyes, but I can also understand where and how she would think this, she would have heard of my brides and saw the children. Many questions will race in her mind I can imagine,

"I needed more eyes, more immortals to watch over the world for you. I have been alone for centuries my love, I fear the despair and madness corrupted my mind. All I could think about was finding you at any cost. But my love for you has never dwindled, only grown. I love you with all my heart Cassandra, never doubt that" I say, she nods at this, I know she will still have many questions but we have eternity to ask and answer those questions.

"Don't let him take me away again, my love. I don't want to be apart from you again" she says, I hold her to me which she comes to, her arms wrap around me as mine do to her, keeping her close, as I would before to make her feel safe and protected,

"I won't ever let anyone take you away from me again my love, I swear on my life" I say, kissing her head, and I will never forgive Gabriel for what he did, he will die for what he did.

Hi guys I'm so sorry for the long wait to this chapter, have been really stuck for this chapter and couldn't decide where I wanted to go with this.

Hope you enjoyed this and I will work my hardest to update the next chapter, have been very busy getting more photography clients during this wedding season has been both very fun and as I said earlier super busy

Love you all and cant wait to hear what you think


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